Project Life | Disney Vacation Album

Four score and seven years ago, make that 5.6 years ago, I took my first step inside of Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Had a fabulous time if you take away all the hours we spent standing in line.

Some of our most magical moments included:

Riding on a float during the Animal Kingdom parade,

Crush (from Nemo) calling out Lita by saying the girl with the purple shell and afropuffs on her head.

The best steak I’ve tasted at Le Cellier.

And all the moments Lita’s eyes lit up from magic.

We so enjoyed our vacation. I snapped thousands of photos. And it was our first family vacation. A trip like that deserved an amazing album, you know!

But I couldn’t piece one together. I was unable to revisit the photos and the project because shortly after our trip, my ex-husband and I separated. And that trip became associated with a time of pain and loss and a world that didn’t/couldn’t exist ever again.

I kept asking my self: why? Why should I finish it? Why should I care? Why should we celebrate?

After some soul-searching and the passage of time, I was able to answer.

Why should I finish it? Why should I care? Why should we celebrate?

Because it’s not about you.

It’s about her.

My daughter.

I didn’t take the trip just to cross Disney World off my bucket list.

I planned and scheduled and waited in long lines because I wanted to watch my daughter experience magical moments that only a 5 year old could.

So my album is her album. Her family. Her good times.

Not all mine.

And so over the summer, I finished that album. Here are some of my favorite pages:

The rest of the layouts are in my Disney Vacation Album. I feel so much joy having now finished and excited to send them over to Persnickety Prints. They’ll have them printed and delivered later this week, which means I can give the album FINALLY to my daughter. Five years later. But with tons of love.

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12 comments

Thanks for sharing, Tiffany. I get what you’re saying. My son-in-law died in an accident last year and I did a scrapbook for my daughter celebrating their 13 years and 2 sons. It was an incredibly painful process, but I did it for her. I’m glad you were able to reach a point where you could finish the album.

Isn’t it amazing how a wonderful story can come from such a sad one? This is a beautiful memory with your daughter that she is sure to treasure. Hopefully, over time, it will be less painful to think about for you. Thank you for sharing such a personal story and a such a lovely project. And now I’m heading over to buy those templates!!

In 2010 my house burned down. I lost years of scrapbooks, photos, videos and thousands of dollars of supplies. Absolutely broke my heart. Last year I discovered digital scrapbooking and became hooked. Everything is on the computer, which is double backed up (EHD and Cloud) and no supplies to lose. My biggest regret is that I did not take pictures of the burnt and moldy pages before the books were tossed. I could have made pages out of those. My best advice is backup, backup, backup!

Thank you so much for sharing this album and your story. You are so incredibly talented and I have learned so much from your tutorials. I am just finishing a 60+ page album of a Disney trip last year, using the Project Mouse supplies. I’ve used your templates in previous Disney albums. You’ve given me so many ideas for my next Disney album. (I’m kind of a Disney super fan if you can’t tell.) Your daughter will treasure this album.

Kudos to you for putting aside your pain and doing this for your daughter.

Not only will she treasure this “last” family trip, but I can almost guarantee that she’ll appreciate the fact that you did this for her when it was painful for you to do so (even if it doesn’t hit her until she’s an adult).

I’m a child of divorce and have been through one myself and I, and my kids, are thankful for the things done for them/saved for them prior to our family life changing.

I wish you peace, strength and courage as you move forward in your new chapter and thanks for all the great info you share.

Love, love love your album! It must have been difficult at times to go on when memories come flooding.
I divorced my husband when my baby was a few months because he was an abuser, becoming a single and first time mom early on. I never had the memories of happier times to share with her, it has always been her and me. I always envied the couples who had such wonderful times at these kind of vacations, not only do you see the happiness and magic on your child’s face but you have someone to share those memories with. I experienced those alone and I wasn’t into scrapbooking at that time so I do not have anything to show.
Looking through your pages it made me realize that it is never too late to make a memory book. Even if you do not have all the appropriate photos. I have the stories and memories in my head and can put them on paper with whatever photo I can find. Even 25 years later I can surprise my daughter with a book about happy events and vacations that we had so many years ago.
Thank you for being such an inspiration.

Thank you for sharing your album … and your story with us. Sometimes going back to scrap our past can be very theraputic, and help us to move on. Been there … done that. I’m sure your daughter will treasure these memories.

Thank you for sharing. My son was 3 when we divorced. I did my wedding album when memories and pain were still fresh. I’m glad I did because it meant it was done and I could move on. I also wish I had waited. I can do so much more now with digital. But using the photo trimmer on certain photos was very therapeutic.